Infomancy n. 1.The field of magic related to the conjuring of information from the chaos of the universe. 2.The collection of terms, queries, and actions related to the retrieval of information from arcane sources.

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Library Elves

February 12th, 2007 by Christopher Harris

Do little elves come into the library at night and type new pages into our books? No, the class answered this morning to the question about why databases are more immediate than books.

But that got me thinking. With e-books, little elves CAN come in the night to add new pages and remove outdated pages. Perhaps soon, e-ink books can be updated every time they are returned to the shelf. Using that cool passing electricity technology that an electronic toothbrush uses, the e-ink book could receive just enough of a jolt to realign the pages. When picked up, the e-ink would remain in place without additional power.

New Grammy results? Pluto no longer a planet? Current history? I can immediately think of quite a few uses for this technology…

Posted in futures, infomancy | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Library Elves”

  1. walt crawford Says:
    February 12th, 2007 at 3:50 pm

    Downside: “Current” history becomes whatever those in control of the pipes want it to be. Dissident? The person never actually existed: You could/can’t look it up. That sort of ebook would certainly lend extra authority to traditional books as offering fixed expression–which is frequently desirable.

    It’s like the problem of citing a controversial statement in Wikipedia–it may not be there when someone else goes to look–but, presumably, without Wikipedia’s essential history capability.

  2. Cat. Says:
    February 12th, 2007 at 5:47 pm

    Thank you Walt for saying what I was going to say. My understanding is that the Soviets did this a lot with paper encyclopedias–they’d just send out the newly-edited official version of whatever to paste in over the previous page.

    That’s why I like the parts of Wikipedia that says who updated what, and why, and when.

  3. Christopher Harris Says:
    February 12th, 2007 at 6:22 pm

    Downside: NewBooks are doubleplusgood ways to share the truth.

    Upside: For those people who want a physical book, this is a way to have the best of both worlds.

  4. Justin Ashworth Says:
    February 14th, 2007 at 5:19 pm

    If you work in an elementary school, elves do come into the library to work. And it’s not just at night either, it’s ALL the time.

    http://www.amazon.com/Shelf-Elf-Library-Lessons/dp/193214627X

    At least that’s what I tell (read) Kindergartners and 1st Graders.